My ‘TVB Rant’ # 22: A Salute to Under-rated, Under-appreciated ‘Green Leaf’ Artists Everywhere!

There’s a saying that goes something like this: “A peony flower may be good in and of itself, but still requires its green leaves to support it.”

I was on Weibo the other day and came across the below post where HKChannel 'pays tribute' to TVB's "Green Leaf Veteran Artists" -- basically those supporting and 'less than supporting' actors / actresses whose names most audiences probably can't recite if their lives depended on it, but whose faces they will instantly recognize (well, the audiences who consistently watch TVB series that is).

As I'm sure audiences who value acting prowess over superficial looks will tell you, 'green leaf' artists are absolutely essential to a series because, well, most of the time, these artists are the ones with the acting skills as well as the experience, which is why many times, they actually end up "carrying" the series that they participate in. This has especially been true in the past decade or so as most of TVB's talented siu sangs and fadans from the 80s and 90s started leaving the nest one by one and a newer generation of 'less talented' artists rose up to take their places.

Now I know what most people are going to say -- very few people are born with natural acting talent and even the most talented of artists started off as a 'newbie' at one point, slowly building up their skills and experiences to become the 'superstars' that they are today. True, not everyone is born with the talent, but there has got to be a reason (or multiple reasons) why so many of the artists who came out of the previous generations (70s/80s/early 90s) are so much better in terms of acting skill than the newer / current generation. Aside from the rare group of artists who truly were 'born to be actors', for the others, I personally feel that one of the "reasons" has to do with the 'cultivation' of talent....

One of the things that TVB did a relatively decent job at in past generations (70s/80s/early 90s) compared to now is that back then, TVB truly did focus on 'cultivating' talent -- the management team as well as the producers back then not only had a good eye for talent (meaning they were pretty 'spot on' when it came to identifying future potential stars), they also focused alot on making sure that 'talent' was properly cultivated and channeled through acting classes as well as other means (such as casting the artists in roles that had good opportunity for development, etc.) -- of course, the artists themselves had to have some amount of skill already and be willing to work hard at mastering their craft (plus most important is having an open mind and willing to learn from others), but the 'sound' mentorship that they received along the way (whether it was from certain producers, senior artists, or even certain management) definitely helped shape their career in one way or another.

Once the late 90s / early 2000s started kicking in and the management (as well as some of the critical 'mentors' who were instrumental in shaping the artists careers in the past, such as King Sir or some of the early producers) started to leave the company, the shift in quality really started to become apparent. The newer management that took over was no where near the competence level that the previous management (and ‘founding fathers’ so to speak) were at and in all honesty, the new management did a ‘horrible’ job at maintaining the ‘good name’ that the previous generations had established. The focus shifted from a united common goal of ‘cultivating talent for talent’s sake’ to a more political and greed-driven ‘every man for himself’ type mentality where it became more important for the company to make tons of money and dominate the market rather than foster growth and development of the industry as a whole. I guess you could also say that the overall goal went from an audience-oriented, genuine desire to produce quality series and cultivate talented actors/actresses for the benefit of the HK entertainment industry to a more selfish desire of wanting to satisfy one’s own greed and hunger for power.

As a result, many of the veteran artists who had helped to make TVB the powerhouse it is today (most of whom have been around since the 80s, some even since the 70s) were tossed by the wayside – pretty much treated as inferior, ‘second-class citizens’ by TVB because they no longer have the ability to ‘rake in the dough’ for the company that they did back in the old days. Sure, part of the blame can be placed on the fickle tastes of an audience that generally cares more about beauty / looks than acting talent (I’m sure that’s what TVB’s ‘defense’ would be), but that doesn’t exonerate TVB from their actions.

In the past year or so, there was a mini ‘revolution’ of sorts when a long line of talented veteran ‘green leaf’ actors / actresses decided to leave TVB and join rival television stations (mostly CTI and nowTV). As the saying goes, ‘when you lose something, you start to cherish it more’ – well, that saying applies in this case as well because as news of more and more artists leaving surfaced week after week, it seems that many audiences are finally learning to ‘appreciate’ the value that these artists contributed to their series-viewing experience. Hence, there are Weibo posts such as the below where artists whom audiences probably never even paid attention to in the past are finally getting their ’15 minutes’ of fame now.

Since I’m one of those ‘non-mainstream’ audience members who value acting skills over looks, I’ve always been one to pay more attention to the ‘green leaf’ artists in a series than to the main leads. This has been especially true for the newer series I’ve watched from the last 15 years or so, since in majority of these series, many of the leads lack acting skill and some of their performances are usually nothing to shout about – I usually enjoy the performances from the supporting cast more than I do the main leads. Audiences like me are in the minority though, so whenever I’m able to help give more ‘recognition’ to these normally under-appreciated artists, I am more than willing to do so (especially since we all know that TVB isn’t going to do it!). My opinion might not be worth much, but that’s okay – just doing my part to show appreciation for people who I feel deserve to be appreciated and recognized.

So I would like to conclude this post by saying…..

To ALL the HK ‘green leaf’ / veteran artists out there: THANK YOU for making my television-viewing experience so pleasurable! I appreciate the years of hard work that you’ve devoted to the industry and the numerous memorable performances you’ve given to audiences like me! No matter which company you decide to work for, I’m confident that you will continue to keep up the great work! I SALUTE you and SUPPORT you!!

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Source:  HK Channel's Weibo (read detailed article here:  Green Leaf Artists)

**NOTE:  This is NOT an all-inclusive list -- only a few 'green leaf' artists who have been in a few of this year's series were mentioned...there are definitely ALOT more artists who would fall into the veteran green leaf category but were not mentioned in the article below.

Pictures credited as listed

Mingpao Interview: Sunny Chan stops working for a year to help his autistic son overcome his speech impediment

Here's another great interview from the latest issue of Mingpao Magazine that just came out today.

The cover story is about Sunny Chan -- one of my favorite actors -- who took a year off from acting this past year so he could take care of his autistic son.  He will be returning to TVB next month to film a new series with Raymond Wong and Sonjia Kwok (the cast revealed so far).

Sunny has always been one of my favorite actors -- ever since he started in the 90s, I've followed his career and watched practically every series he's been in (except the ATV ones).  In recent years, he's gotten alot of crappy roles in forgettable series and alot of the series he starred in were warehoused for years -- it got to the point that I started to question why he even continued to stay with TVB given how crappy they treated him.  Then, last year, I found out the reason -- his son is autistic and because he wanted to make sure he spent as much time with him as possible, he wanted to keep his career primarily in HK, which meant that his only choice was to continue working for TVB (since the only other choice is ATV and we all know that station doesn't film series anymore).  I will be very honest and say that when I first found out that his son is autistic, I literally cried -- but then I saw the positive and optimistic attitude that Sunny (and his wife Ada) constantly displayed toward his son's situation and I couldn't help but admire him even more.  Sunny has always struck me as a great husband, father, and person overall -- this interview pretty much reinforces that fact!  (Btw, I also cried buckets after reading this article, primarily because I was so touched by it!).

Best of luck to Sunny, Ada, and little Kah Wah -- I support you guys 100%!!!

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Mingpao Interview:  Sunny Chan stops working for a year to help his autistic son overcome his speech impediment

Source:  Mingpao Weekly, Issue 2285

Translation:  llwy12

Olympic sailing champion Lee Lai Shan once stated that “it takes 4 million dollars to raise a child.” For Sunny Chan (陳錦鴻) and his wife Ada To (杜雯惠) however, the amount of time and energy they spend on their 5 year old son Chan Kah Wah (陳駕樺) cannot be measured with any amount of money!

Sunny and Ada’s son Kah Wah is not only mildly autistic, but also has a speech impediment, therefore, the couple has put all of their effort into taking care of him – in addition to giving up city life and moving to the suburbs to provide a more natural environment for their son, they also specially hired a ‘shadow teacher’ to accompany him to classes. Having endured an English language impediment himself when he was a kid, Sunny did not want his son to go through the same suffering he had back then – therefore, in September of last year (2011), Sunny decide to completely stop working so he could take care of his son 24 hours a day. Now one year later, Sunny finally has his greatest reward: during his Kindergarten graduation ceremony this past July, Kah Wah was able to perform a recitation all by himself in front of a crowd of people! However, the meticulous effort that Sunny and his wife had to put into achieving such results was far greater than any outside observer can understand.

Sunny Chan and his wife, radio DJ Ada To, had their son Kah Wah in 2007. Two years later, at an age when most toddlers already know how to utter a limited number of words, the couple discovered that their 2 year old son still did not know how to speak – not long after that, Kah Wah was confirmed to have a speech impediment that hindered his ability to speak. As if that wasn’t enough, when Kah Wah turned 4 years old, he was diagnosed as having mild autism, which meant that not only would his learning ability be slower than normal kids, his ability to form social relationships with others would also be impaired. Having great love for his son, Sunny Chan immediately hired a ‘shadow teacher’ to accompany his son to Kindergarten in the hopes of providing personal, specialized instruction – unfortunately, the results did not turn out as well as expected. Last September, after the filming for his Mainland China series wrapped, Sunny announced that he will stop working completely in order to focus on taking care of his son. However, this past Tuesday (August 21st), Sunny was spotted arriving at TVB City and meeting up with producer Leung Choi Yuen (梁材遠) to discuss filming of a new TVB series – turns out that his son’s situation has improved greatly, to the point that Sunny is able to return to work now: “Within the one year that I’ve been working with my son on his condition, his progress has truly been very good. This past July, during his Kindergarten graduation ceremony, Kah Wah was actually able to do a recitation all by himself! This achievement is huge encouragement for me, my wife, my son’s shadow teacher, as well as his kindergarten teachers because just last year, when my son was in K1, he couldn’t even say very simple, single words – at that time, even though I would constantly create songs to sing with him to help him learn single words, he still was not able to speak clearly. But now – not only is he able to do a recitation in front of a crowd of people, he is also able to recite an entire book! This result was unexpected, but of course we are very satisfied with it.” As Sunny recounted his son’s latest achievement, he was so happy that he could not stop smiling – ironically though, Sunny actually did not attend the that particular ceremony, so he was not able to personally witness this memorable achievement!

Three step method to help his son improve

With their son’s condition improving significantly, Sunny and his wife Ada can finally relax a bit, as this past year, the couple had pretty much spent almost every minute of the day with their son. Sunny explained that he utilized a ‘3-step method’ to help his son improve his speech ability: “First step was to invest time. To be honest, this past year, I basically spent every minute of the day with my son. In the past, whenever I had breaks in between filming, I would go and take care of some matters at the restaurant almost daily, but now, the only time I would go out was to take my son to tutoring classes, speech therapy, behavior therapy, etc. – the rest of the time, I would stay at home and watch over my son – I would refrain from doing any work and just watch him everyday. The second step was to closely observe his actions and through that, figure out his interests as well as things that he liked – as soon as we discovered something, we would use it as a teaching opportunity for him, as this helped to increase his interest in learning. For example, when we found out that he seemed to react well to music, my wife immediately took him to play drums; when the school taught the word ‘ferry’, we would immediately take him on a ferry boat ride; when the school taught the word ‘swim’, we would immediately take him swimming. Every time he learned a new term, we would put it into practice to help him understand what the words meant – that’s why this past year has been very enriching and has brought me great satisfaction and joy!”

The third step that Sunny took was to strengthen his relationship with his son and gain his trust. Due to his condition, Kah Wah initially had problems trusting people – when his teachers or his parents would try to teach him the meaning of certain words, he had difficulty believing them: “Before, I would constantly have to correct his speech – for example, instead of saying ‘yau sui’ (swim), he would say ‘ying sui’. Every time I tried to correct him, he wouldn’t believe me and instead would get upset at me because he felt I was trying to ‘challenge’ him – pretty much he didn’t like people correcting him. I felt that this was because my relationship with him wasn’t good enough, so I decided to build a better relationship with him – not an ordinary father/son relationship, but rather a friendship in which he could wholeheartedly trust me.”

Climbed trees daily to build relationship

In efforts to build a ‘trusting’ relationship with his son, Sunny arranged a lot of outdoor activities for them to do together – the activity that proved to be the most helpful in building trust was taking his son to climb trees together: “Every time we went tree-climbing together, I would be right next to him, singing to him: ‘climb tree, climb tree, one step at a time, Daddy holding my hand, I can climb higher!’ Actually, every time we did an activity together, I would create a song for him so he could learn individual words within the song – for example, the words ‘climb’, ‘tree’, ‘step’, etc. These songs not only helped him learn new words, it also helped to strengthen our relationship. When climbing trees, the higher he climbed, the more scared he would get – every time he lost his balance, I would be right there to hold him up and keep him from falling. We would go climb trees everyday and each time, he would lose his balance, but I was always there to steady him – after 2 months, he was finally able to establish trust in me. The next time I would try to correct his speech, he was very willing to listen and wouldn’t get upset at me anymore, which helped speed up his progress tremendously. After that, I would take each word and teach him pronunciation, meaning, and also how to put them into sentences.”

In addition to this ‘3 step method’, Sunny and his wife also made another important sacrifice – they decided to move out of their apartment in the city and instead move into a house in the surburbs so that their son could interact more with the environment and nature. Moving actually served 2 purposes for them – one was that they could take their son to play in the park everyday, and two, they could avoid disturbing their neighbors: “Our home is right next to the Sai Kung Country Park, so every day I would take my son there for at least an hour. Before when we lived in the city, we were in an apartment – my son loved to study sounds, so he would constantly bounce a ball on the floor and listen to the ‘pa pa’ sound the ball would make when it hit the floor. He could listen for one year, two years, and never grow tired of it! But we were concerned that this would perhaps be disruptive to our neighbors – plus I felt that we should constantly find new things for my son to ‘study’, as he was only interested in the sound of a ball bouncing on the floor or footsteps going up and down the stairs – therefore, we decided that it was best to move to the suburbs. This way, whether he enjoyed throwing a ball around or singing loudly, he could do it freely – also, in the suburbs, the things that you get to experience are very different. For example, when the school taught about snails, I could take him outside and show him how a real snail looked like.” If it was for the best interests of his son, Sunny did not mind making whatever sacrifices were necessary – definitely a ‘twenty-four filial’father!

Doesn’t want son to repeat his childhood nightmare

Kah Wah is showing signs of improvement now, but with Sunny taking 1 year off to care for his son, he obviously missed out on a lot financially -- but how much? “I never calculated it. Pretty much each time someone called with a job opportunity, I would decline it – I never gave a thought about how much I would be losing. It’s really a matter of choice – as a father, what exactly do I want? I could definitely choose to work endlessly day and night like I did in the past, but then my son’s improvement would not be as good. For example, last year in September when I returned home from filming a Mainland series, the shadow teacher told me that my son only learned one word per week – normal children his age were learning one word a day! I was concerned and felt that there was no reason he couldn’t do it too, so I spent the entire weekend teaching him and he was able to learn 10 words – it proves that he has the ability, it’s just that previously I didn’t spend enough time by his side teaching him.”

Sunny himself also had a language impediment back during his school days and spent 6 to 7 torturous years going through high school. To ensure that his son doesn’t go through the same suffering he did, Sunny felt that all the sacrifices he made (job opportunities, money, etc.) in order to be with his son were worth it: “I actually had an English language impediment in high school – the school I went to taught mostly in English and I basically had no clue what was being said in any of the classes. I would go to class and not know what the teacher was saying, but would pretend to understand because I didn’t want them to tell my mom. Year after year it was like that, the feeling was very torturous – I really don’t want my son to go through the same experience."

Set aside plans for another child

Even though Kah Wah no longer has a problem learning words and reciting text, he still has issues communicating with people that will require more time to improve: “He’s able to recite a lot of the textbooks now and learns a few new words every day – his problem isn’t in learning words but rather in responding to questions. When he’s asked simple questions such as ‘What did you eat today?’ or ‘Where do you want to go play?’ or ‘Who’s knocking at the door?’, he’s not able to answer, but when you write it down for him, he’s able to recite the words. I’m hoping that by the time my son enters primary school, he will no longer need a shadow teacher and can go to school just like regular kids because if he’s 7 -8 years old and still has a shadow teacher accompanying him to school, he will feel that he is different from other students.”

In the past, Sunny hoped to have lots of children, but when asked about his plans now, he expressed that he and his wife have set aside all plans for another child: “We had planned to have another child because at that time, we did not know where the issue was with our son and thought that perhaps having another child to accompany him would solve things. But now that we figured out the problem, we felt it would be best to focus all our attention on solving the problem. We also thought about the age factor too -- if we were to have another child, by the time I’m 60, he/she would not have graduated from college yet!”

Seeing his son’s progress, Sunny expressed that he is very touched: “Even though my career is acting, my son will always be first priority in my life. With the good progress he has made this past year, plus my wife won’t be doing her radio program starting in September so she can take care of our son full-time, I will essentially be ‘trading places’ with her – my wife will take care of Kah Wah full-time and I will go earn money. However, our ultimate goal is still the same – if we have the opportunity to choose, the first choice will always be to stay home with our son.”

‘Raise a son for 100 years, worry for 99 years’ – definitely the words from the heart for all parents!

Follow up Post: Details on 3 Additional CTI Series Announced Recently

Recently (a couple days ago), CTI held a press conference announcing the newest series that the company will start filming soon (a medical drama starring Frankie Lam and John Chiang). This is actually the 6th series that has been officially announced, with more to be announced in the upcoming months/weeks (2 more I know of for sure is Felix Wong's series with his daughter Adrian and also Maggie Cheung's series with Prudence Liew).

I actually posted a little bit about the first 3 series that CTI had announced awhile back ago (you can read about those 3 series here)...but now with more series being announced (and the 'revelation' of more artists who have joined CTI), I figured it would be an appropriate time to post a ‘followup’ detailing the remaining 3 series that have already been announced -- including the official plot summaries and cast lists that were released during the press conferences that were held for each series. I decided to do this post partly for those whom I've been discussing CTI's series with in forums and on my blog (you know who you are...LOL!), but also partly for myself, since there is so much information out there now that it's easy to get confused.

Hope this provides a bit of clarification (and insight) as to what CTI has in store for HK audiences when they finally 'open their doors' sometime next year (depending on when the government decides to issue their license).

Also, due to some discussions I’ve had with various people over the past few months, I felt the need to clarify a few things...

For the record, the reason why I’ve been posting a lot of stuff about CTI on my blog is NOT because I support CTI (because to be honest, I really can't 'support' them right now because 1) they're too new and I don't have enough info / history to go off of yet and so I refuse to blindly support a person / company until I know more, and 2) I still have some reservations about the company and its chairman Ricky Wong) nor is it because I want to see the downfall of TVB....[sure, I criticize TVB alot -- probably to the point of being annoying to some people -- but that's because my family and I have supported TVB for more than 3 decades and it pains me to see how 'far from the tree' they have fallen, so my constant 'constructive' criticism is my last ditch attempt to hopefully pound some sense into the (lame) management over there before they run the station to the ground (some people feel they already have)].

Rather, I post about CTI and its series because 1) they’re pretty much the only one out of the three stations that are actually filming series right now, and 2) as a long-time follower / supporter of the HK television industry in general, I'm disappointed with how much the industry has deteriorated and strongly feel that in order for the industry to 'get back on its feet', (healthy) competition is definitely necessary because, well, competition drives improvement (yes, that's the business person in me talking again...). So essentially, I guess you could say that I support the overall cause of having new free-to-air TV stations in HK because I want to see the industry flourish again. Some people may think that this is wishful thinking on my part (which I'm ok with), but I'm actually looking forward to the day when all the TV stations can co-exist together and produce quality programming for us viewers -- after all, isn't that what a TV station at its core should ultimately be about?

Anyway, here are the details on 3 more series that CTI has announced over the past 2 months -- filming has already started on all 3 series:

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The Second Life (第二人生)

Copy Editors: Lee Yee Wah (李綺華) and Suen Ho Ho (孫浩浩)
Main Director: Chan San Hap (陳新俠)

Filming Dates: July 2012
Length: 15 episodes

Cast: Wilfred Lau (劉浩龍), Terence Yin (尹子維), Bondy Chiu (趙學而), Joey Tang (鄧建明), Patrick Lui (雷有暉), Ann Ho (何紫綸), Maria Chen (陳霽平), Samuel Kwok (郭峰), Anita Chan (陳穎妍), Bonnie Wong (黃文慧), Wong Ching (王青), Mannor Chan (陳曼娜), Nick Chong (莊兆麟), Emily Wong (王歌慧), Ricksen Tam (譚晴), Wong Mei Kei (黃美棋), Cherry Pau (鮑康兒), Chan On Ying (陳安瑩), Jim Bing Hei (詹秉熙), Annie Cheung (張雅麗), Joyce Giann Wong (黃瑩), etc

Plot Summary:
After living for several decades, when one has reached middle age, we start to complain about the pressures and failures that we’ve experienced and regret those ‘missed opportunities’ from the past. But for someone who doesn’t have any dreams or aspirations, what is the point of living a life of such uselessness? The series will explore how the main characters, while going through a low period in their lives, will encounter a situation that gives them the opportunity to change history – however, once the history is changed, they discover that their lives did not become better than it was before. This makes them realize that instead of constantly fretting about the past, why not seize the opportunities they have presently and live life to the fullest?

Additional Notes: This is one of those ‘tales of encouragement’ series that will explore various relationships between siblings, family, friends, and lovers.

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Police Boundaries (警界線)

Creative Producer: Chu King Kei (朱鏡祺)
Copy Editor: Lau Siu Kuan (劉小群)
Main Director: So Man Chong (蘇萬聰)

Filming Dates: Mid-July (movie) / Mid-October (TV series)
Length: 21 Episodes

Cast:  Liu Kai Chi (廖啟智), Dominic Lam (林嘉華), Leila Tong (唐寧), Lawrence Chou (周俊偉), Joman Chiang (蔣祖曼), Annie Liu (廖安麗), Philip Keung (姜皓文), Crystal Leung (梁寶琪), Lui Hei (呂熙), Deno Cheung (張松枝), Cheng Ka Sheng (鄭家生), Felix Lok (駱應鈞), Lam Lei (林利), Yu Mo Lian (余慕蓮), Luk Chun Kwong (陸駿光), etc.

Plot Summary: 
Haivng a clear separation between black and white, placing heavy emphasis on discipline – both are the most important ‘boundaries’ for a cop. But if those boundaries are broken through and cops collaborate with crooks, the investigative process as well as the probability of cracking the case becomes limitlessly greater. A 12 year undercover agent living on the edge, a hot-tempered cop who once broke out of jail after he was framed for crime, a ‘King of Robbers’ who was once jailed for a crime he didn’t commit and now specializes in robbing crooks, a ‘spinster’ female cop who had never fired a single shot in her life and relies on her wits as well as life experiences to ‘figure out’ criminals, a fugitive from the law who is obsessed with female cops but always puts righteousness ahead of all else, and finally a high-ranking female officer who is also a military weapons expert – together, they will match wits as well as match strength. Out of this will come not only love, hate, and sparks, it will also break all boundaries – joining forces to crack cold cases and locate criminals, it creates an entirely different battlefield. Through blood, tears, life, and death, these most ‘hot-blooded’ of cops and criminals manifest the brilliance of human nature, leaving behind one touching, heart-stopping story after another.

Additional Notes: The series will technically be 20 episodes, as the first episode will be a movie that sets up the scene and the story will continue on in the TV series. Also, CTI’s chairman Ricky Wong specially arranged for all the artists participating in this series to take lessons at a real life firing range using real guns.

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Three Sided Face Doctors (三面形醫) [Not official English title]

Copy Editor: Choi Ting Ting
Screenwriters: Sin Siu Ling, Man Kin Fai, Ho Lo Yan
Main Director: Kwan Shu Ming

Filming Dates: September
Length: 20 Episodes

Cast:  Frankie Lam (林文龍), John Chiang (姜大衛), Wilson Tsui (艾威), Kate Yeung (楊淇), Sam Chan (陳宇琛), Leanne Ho (何思諺), Lesley Chiang (姜麗文), Rain Lau (劉玉翠), Benji Chiang (姜文杰), Queenie Chan (陳莉敏), Rachel Lam (林熹瞳), Lee Cheuk Ling (李卓寧), Yetta Tse (謝珊珊), Deno Cheung (張松枝), Carlos Chan (陳家樂), Yan Ng (吳日言), Maria Chen (陳霽平), Philip Keung (姜皓文), Wong Gwan Bun (黃冠斌) , Damon Law (羅貫峰), etc.

Plot Summary:
Humans are naturally born to love beauty. Alot of people put on makeup, do beauty treatments, some even opt for plastic surgery -- but there are probably not many people who are willing to look directly into a mirror and comfortably, naturally, peel away their glamorous 'outer skin' and reveal the rawest, most hidden side of themselves. That's why all along, doctors are only able to heal our physical bodies, but not our hearts. Ultimately, the 'root cause' of alot of illnesses does not stray far from what we call 'humanity' (renxing)!

Utilizing the story of a plastic surgeon joining a franchised medical treatment conglomerate as basis and adding in a 'discussion' of a few recent controversial 'hot topics', the series will attempt to critique the value system of mainstream modern society in the hopes of inspring the general public to reflect on the definition of 'beauty' and how it relates to their own value system. At the same time, it hopes to be the 'voice' for different levels of people in society and thereby resonate with audiences.

Additional Notes about series:   Through the story of doctors and their patients as well as the various inner and outer conflicts that a medical treatment conglomerate experiences, hope to demonstrate the 'real' side of humanity.  This will be the first series in HK television history to present the 'true face' of medical surgeries.  There will be a television version as well as a web version of the series -- the web version will reveal the real life process involved in plastic surgeries.

YCWB Interview with Ram Tseung: “The entertainment industry suits me, but I’m not suited to the entertainment industry”

This article actually came out almost 2 weeks ago, but I didn't get the chance to translate it back then because I got busy. Now that I'm slowly getting caught up on stuff, I wanted to make sure that this article got pushed to the top of my "to translate" list, primarily because it's an interview with an actor whom I adore: Ram Tseung. [Note: I've also seen Ram's last name spelled 'Chiang' in English, which is probably the more correct translation of his surname, but since he has been known to me as 'Ram Tseung' for the past 2 decades, that's the name I'm sticking with...LOL!]

Ram is absolutely one of my most favorite veteran supporting actors (definitely in my Top 5) -- in fact, I'm not ashamed to admit that I adore the guy to pieces! Not only is he one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet, he's also an extremely talented (but very underrated) actor as well as singer. I'm the type who really values 'versatility' when it comes to acting and Ram definitely meets the requirement (actually, he exceeds the requirement...LOL) -- no matter what type of character he plays (be it a 'professional' character such as lawyer, forensics expert, doctor, etc., an ordinary 'everyman' type character, a comedic sidekick,a benevolent father, a ruthless villain, etc.), Ram never fails to deliver the goods.

I've always felt that Ram has inborn acting talent because right from the start, I found his acting to be incredibly convincing. The first series that I saw him in was Files of Justice 2 (which I believe was also his very first TVB series?) where he played the deaf lawyer Chow Siu Chung (Eric) who was eventually paired up with Eugenia Lau's lawyer character Kong Sing Jou (Helen). [Sidenote: I loved Ram's character in the series, so obviously I hated TVB for the way they developed his character so poorly in subsequent installments and eventually killed him off so horribly in FOJ 5....still can't forgive TVB even now!!!]. I was impressed by Ram's acting from the beginning and since then, in all the series that I've watched of his, he has never once disappointed me with his awesome acting. As I said in my earlier review of the series Witness Insecurity, I always enjoy watching Ram in series because he always manages to bring his role to life with his performance, no matter how big or small his role is -- in fact, whenever I happen to be watching a series with him in it, I usually find myself watching most of his scenes in the series, even if I end up skipping the rest of the series because I can't stand the storyline or the rest of the cast (yes, there have definitely been numerous times where I've sat through series I disliked / hated just because of Ram!).

Needless to say, I absolutely enjoyed reading the below interview that a Mainland paper did with Ram and only wish that there was a video version of the interview too (I’m not familiar with this particular paper so if anyone knows if they actually do publish video versions of their interviews somewhere, I would be curious to know.)

Hope you enjoy this interview as much as I did! :-)

.*******.

YCWB Interview with Ram Tseung:   “The entertainment industry suits me, but I’m not suited to the entertainment industry”

Source: Yang Cheng Evening Paper

Article originally published on August 3, 2012

Translation: llwy12

He almost always plays ‘small potato’ characters, but yet he says he is very happy; his path [to fame] always seems to be slower than others, but yet he says he doesn’t regret it….

You might not know his name, but you will definitely recognize his face. Ram Tseung (蔣志光) has appeared in countless TVB series throughout his 20 year acting career – from the effeminate James in the hit sitcom War of the Genders《男親女愛》(2000) to drama fanatic Law Ka Fai in the comedy Life Begins at Forty《花樣中年》(2003) to the likably cute Eunuch Po in 2009’s anniversary series Beyond the Realm of Conscience《宮心計》, to the playful and humorous ‘Little Mr. Kiu’ in the recently aired Witness Insecurity《護花危情》(2012) -- in his 2 decades as a ‘green leaf’ (supporting) actor, he has ‘changed’ many faces. Yet how many people remember that many years ago, Ram had actually started in the entertainment industry as a singer / songwriter who was responsible for bringing us the golden classic (and karaoke favorite), Met As Strangers, Once Acquainted 《相逢何必曾相識》— his famous duet with singer Rita Carpio (韋以珊). [TN: the English translation of the song title is purely my interpretation and NOT the ‘official’ translation by any means.] Even though his career ‘changed’ from music to television, one thing that hasn’t changed for this ‘second-line drama king’ is his philosophy on life – it also has not extinguished the desire in his heart to pursue his ultimate dream.

YC = Yang Cheng Evening Paper
RT = Ram Tseung


Recounting the days of old

In 3 of the series that just finished airing on TVB -- Master of Play 《心戰》, Witness Insecurity 《護花危情》, and Three Kingdoms RPG《 回到三國》—Ram Tseung played his usual ‘green leaf’ roles. For die-hard TVB fans, Ram might be a familiar face, however not everyone might be familiar with his singer / songwriter past or his ‘golden’ classics Met As Strangers, Once Acquainted 《相逢何必曾相識》 and Queen’s Road East《皇后大道東》[his duet with Taiwanese singer/songer Lo Da Yu (羅大佑)].

YC: A lot of people don’t know that you actually started in the industry as a singer. Can you tell us a little bit about your experience in this area?

RT: I believe the year was 1979 – at that time, I was doing behind-the-scenes work for movies. I had actually gone through many different positions, with the highest being assistant director. Later, the HK movie industry slumped and it was almost impossible to survive doing independent film – for 6 months, I didn’t have any work, so I decided to switch to doing behind-the-scenes work in music. At that time, I would mostly sing ‘saliva songs’ [TN: songs so common that everyone knew how to sing them] and do imitations of other singers such as Leslie Cheung (張國榮), George Lam (林子祥), etc. – I still remember there was a line in the movie C’est La Vie, Mon Cheri《新不了情》(1993) that went something like this: ‘Ram Tseung merely started in the industry singing saliva songs too!’ [laughs] It wasn’t until 1985, during George Lam’s concert, when I pretended to be a monkey imitating him singing, that people started knowing of me. Not long after that, I signed with record company Polygram [now Universal] and participated in the “Asian Region Pop Song Competition” and later released my first EP album. At that time, Polygram had 3 singers they wanted to promote – Ram Tseung, Hacken Lee (李克勤), and Chris Wong (黄凯芹). The company had the 3 of us release albums at the same time and told us that whoever’s album sells well, they will get the chance to continue releasing albums. The result was that both Chris and Hacken’s albums sold well, but mine didn’t. Later on, I signed with another record company and formed the band ‘Second Generation Wind and Cloud’ with 2 other artists, however the company wanted me to release a solo album, so that’s when I wrote the song Met As Strangers, Once Acquainted.

YC: After that song, your singing career started to take flight, however not long after that, you announced that you would be leaving the music industry. Why?

RT: The main reason was because I discovered that my foundation in music was not strong enough. To be a successful singer, I had to guarantee that each of my albums will sell better than the previous one – the pressure was too great. Plus the music industry at that time was already very different from what it was in the past and so I could already anticipate that a future in singing was not very optimistic. In addition, I was a pretty picky person and didn’t get along too well with others, so I decided to leave the music industry.

YC: Did you struggle with the decision?

RT: No. My thinking at the time was -- rather than continuing to remain in the industry until you dry up, why not just withdraw when there’s still a chance?

YC: After you left the music industry, there was a long period of time where you wouldn’t sing at all on any shows or programs. Was this because in your mind, there was a sort of ‘mental resistance’ to singing?

RT: No, it wasn’t resistance. The HK entertainment industry is very weird – they like to ‘label’ all their artists as either ‘actors’ or ‘singers’. As an artist, if you are able to act and sing well, it’s supposed to mean that you’re a multi-talented person, however in HK, it’s different – if your status isn’t clearly classified into one of those categories, it’s like you’re out of place. My philosophy has always been: either I do the best job or I don’t do it at all – since I wanted to be a good actor, I had to give up on singing. Even now, at this point in my career, I hope for people to remember me as an actor more than as a singer. In the future, if people bring up the name ‘Ram Tseung’ and feel that I was both a good actor and a good singer, of course it would give me even more of a sense of accomplishment.

YC: It wasn’t until Lo Da Yu’s (羅大佑) concert in 2004 that you finally got up on the stage and sang again. Did you feel at that time that you could finally throw out your apprehensions about singing?

RT: No. Actually, I originally didn’t even plan on participating in the concert, but then Patrick Tang (鄧健泓) asked me: ‘Perhaps look at it as an opportunity to go see your old friend again and reminisce with him about the old days?’ I thought: ‘true, that makes sense’, so I decided to go. Nowadays, I still occasionally perform on stage here and there to earn some extra money, but to me, that’s purely a method of earning money. If you ask me, I would still tell you that I am an actor.


Towards Acting…

After leaving the music industry, Ram Tseung took with him the dream of one day becoming a director and eventually joined TVB, becoming an actor instead. At first, he saw becoming an actor as a ‘stepping stone’ for a different career path and so he took a ‘passing through’ attitude toward acting. What he didn’t expect was that he would go from waiting impatiently for each work day to end to, 20 years later, truly developing a love for acting. Having resigned himself to the fact that he ‘doesn’t have the fate to be male lead’, Ram has found a certain type of joy in playing a variety of different ‘small potato’-type characters.

YC: After withdrawing from the music industry, why did you choose to join TVB?

RT: Because I wanted to continue cultivating my creativity. I felt that this industry was closer to my dream – I always tell people that my ultimate goal is in movies, so I decided to give up my singing career to pursue acting. Thinking back on this path now, I feel that I made the right decision.

YC: For someone like you who didn’t graduate from the Acting Classes, did your acting get criticized a lot in the beginning?

RT: I consider myself lucky in that all the roles I’ve gotten have been ones that I’m able to handle. However I will admit that in the beginning, I didn’t apply 100% dedication to acting because what I really liked most was behind-the-scenes work. But, there’s a saying in our industry that gets circulated quite often: ‘Never think about just acting for a few years and then leaving, because as soon as you say this, you won’t be able to leave for a number of years.’ It described my situation perfectly – I thought I would just be ‘passing through’, but in the blink of an eye, I’ve already been acting for 20 years.

YC: How did you ‘endure’ these past 20 years?

RT: In the beginning, I was truly just waiting for each work day to end. Then when I started filming A Kindred Spirit 《真情》, I got to know Louise Lee (李司棋) . She treated the filming studio like her own home, often bringing pillows , newspapers, magazines, etc. almost every day. I asked her why she did that -- she told me that filming series is a long-term job and if we constantly thought if it as temporary and just waited to get off work everyday, it would definitely be a painful experience for us. It was like a light suddenly went on: I came to realize that there’s no point in constantly looking at the clock and wondering when the day will be over – instead, just enjoy the moment and the work at hand. A few years later, I was filming a series with Patrick Tam (譚耀文) and all of a sudden, I told him that I’ve come to love acting. After so many years of thinking that my work is dull and dry, to all of a sudden have feelings for it, definitely very interesting – from that moment on, my attitude toward work changed completely.

YC: Having played so many characters throughout the years, which one is your favorite?

RT: Looking back at it now, I feel that every character I played is very interesting and ‘cute’. For example, the character of James in War of the Genders, Sheung Jing Man in Safeguards《鐵血保鏢》, Leung Cham in A Fistful of Stances《鐵馬尋橋》. Even in Files of Justice《壹號皇庭》and A Kindred Spirit, my characters may not have stood out much, but the experiences were happy ones.

YC: Do you have a special fondness for these types of ‘small potato’ characters?

RT: Primarily because the producers believe in me and feel that I’m able to portray these types of characters well. I already don’t have the looks, so if I can’t even play these types of ‘small potato’ characters well, then it would definitely be impossible to survive [in the industry]. That’s why I feel that I need to firmly grasp the path of being a ‘character actor’! (Laughs)

YC: To be able to portray these types of characters well is not easy. Do you have a particular method to it?

RT: Normally, I would find myself a ‘reference’ that I could base the character off of. For example, in Witness Insecurity, I modeled the character of ‘Little Mr Kiu’ after Eric Tsang (曾志偉) and would think about him when playing the character. However, costume dramas are actually harder to find a ‘reference’ – for example, the character of Eunuch Po in Beyond the Realm of Conscience. I feel that Eunuch Po’s ‘partner’ in the series [the character played by Michelle Yim (米雪)] is a woman with a naturally more masculine personality, so Eunuch Po has to be more ‘feminine’ in order to reach a good balance that complements each other. Therefore, I discussed this at length with producer Siu Ching Jie [Miu Siu Ching (梅小青)] and as a result, we have this unique character.

YC: The roles you’ve had in the past few years have been quite well-received by audiences. Ever thought about getting an award?

RT: Never thought about it and feel that there is no need. Of course, I wouldn’t oppose it if it were to happen, but I feel that it’s better to be more practical in life – I would rather the company give me a pay raise! (Laughs)

YC: After so many years as a supporting actor, have you thought about doing lead roles?

RT: I feel that anyone can have the chance to be male lead. If a particular script were to have the ‘small potato’ character be the focal point of a series, I would perhaps have a chance. But in a commercialized society such as ours, there are many things that need to be taken into consideration. In HK, the ‘definition’ of a male lead is usually someone who is tall and handsome, young and suave. Mainland series on the other hand generally give middle-aged and even older actors more chance for development, but HK series generally don’t.

YC: Do you follow any Mainland series?

RT: I usually watch the historical series, such as Three Kingdoms 《三国》or Water Margin 《水浒传》. Whether it’s the scope or content, these types of series are usually quite spectacular – as an actor, it’s rare to get the opportunity to participate in these types of productions. If there’s ever the chance to collaborate with such ‘masters’ of acting in a series, it would definitely be a huge honor!


Towards His Dreams….

Despite having experienced many ups and downs in his long television career, Ram Tseung’s ‘movie dream’ has never faded. Whenever he has some leisure time, Ram would work on creating scripts, however up to this point, he has not found anyone to ‘share’ his creative ideas with. When it comes to creativity, Ram is very much a perfectionist, sometimes to the point of being ‘stubbornly persistent’ – it’s no wonder then, that he would ‘downplay’ his own ability by saying: “the entertainment industry suits me, but I’m not suited to the entertainment industry.”

YC: In the fickle world of the entertainment industry, being persistent in your ‘movie dream’ is not easy, right?

RT: TVB doesn’t have fixed monthly salaries and to be honest, my pay is not very high, but luckily my workload has been quite consistent so the money I make is enough to live off of. I’m not a materialistic person, so to have what I do now, I’m already very grateful. My family has also been very supportive of my decisions – they pretty much never watch TV, but whenever I’m in a series, they would always tune in to watch my performance. For me, this is already enough.

YC: Earlier, Ricky Wong (王维基) [CTI chairman] poached quite a few people. Ever thought about leaving to another station?

RT: I’m not that kind of person. At TVB, there’s a more stable environment and steady income, so I don’t feel it’s necessary to worry too much about the other stuff. I’ve been with the company many years, so of course I’ve already established a certain bond with them. [Rather than going to a different company], I actually hope to have the opportunity to film series in the Mainland.

YC: How about your ‘movie dream’? Still something you’d like to pursue?

RT: All these years, my ultimate goal is still to become a movie director one day. I’ve actually been working on a script all this time too, however my creative thought is pretty much the same as most of the ordinary HK scriptwriters – usually the beginning part of the script is awesome, but then 45 minutes into it, I feel helpless and hesitant…haha! If there’s money, then we can shoot a few more big action scenes, then wait for the story to end…if there’s no money, very hard to continue the story….(Laughs).

YC: If the script comes to fruition, would you seek out investors for it?

RT: Looking for investors is a huge lesson in itself. Many times, after you find an investor, you will discover that most of the script doesn’t belong to you anymore. (Laughs) I once read a report that talked about how production costs for Mainland films as well as actors’ fees continue to increase more and more, however the quality of the films get worse and worse. There’s a joke about it…someone once asked me: ‘Ram, if you could film a movie right now, how much money would you need?’ I replied: ‘2 to 3 million is enough’ to which the other person replied: ‘If you wanted 20 to 30 million, then it might be a possibility.’ The reason behind this type of thinking is that most ordinary people feel if you only invest 2 to 3 million into a movie, it must be bad quality -- but in reality, all that money really isn’t necessary. When you have a good script, you have to find someone who understands how to appreciate the art of a film to invest in it – if the investor is just an ordinary businessman who is more concerned about box office sales and return on investment than about the film itself, that’s not the result I want. Even if I’m not able to find an investor for a long time, I won’t feel it’s a pity because throughout the creative process, I’m happy and satisfied.

YC: But when a dream is ‘too perfect’, oftentimes it’s very hard to achieve.

RT: In this industry, perhaps not everyone is able to realize their dreams, but those who have the talent and ability will definitely be able to survive. Not everyone will move with the tide – some people are like cornerstones, strong foundational support who may not necessarily attain great status and wealth.

YC: But those who ‘move with the tide’ seem to have quicker results. You’ve never regretted it [taking the slower path]?

RT: I truly have not regretted it. I always say that the entertainment industry is suited to me, but people like me are not suited to the industry. The entertainment industry is suited to me because the creative space in the industry is really brilliant – being able to combine music and video images as one is truly a beautiful thing and makes this world [entertainment industry] so rewarding. But at the same time, this same ‘beautiful’ world is filled with fighting and vying for one’s own interests – that’s why I say that someone like me is not suited to exist in this type of world.

Mingpao Interview with Rebecca Chan: A Mother’s Choice

Here’s another interesting interview from this past week’s issue of Mingpao Magazine.

Rebecca Chan is actually another veteran actress whom I grew up watching. She’s definitely a talented actress, as I’ve actually enjoyed her acting even since the 80s, when she was a young fadan at TVB – she had quite a few memorable performances, both back then (during her young actress days) as well as currently. Though she mostly plays villain characters now, I’m actually ok with it because with her level of acting skill, her villain characters are very convincing and her performances are still quite enjoyable to watch – plus it shows that she is versatile in her acting. I actually still remember Rebecca’s performance in The Final Verdict (good series, but very depressing and tragic) as well as in many of the other series she was in back in the 80s – I especially liked Rebecca’s ancient series back then because I felt that she was one of those actresses who always looked great in ancient costume.

I actually knew a long time ago that Rebecca was a single mother because she never hid that fact in her interviews. For those who might not know, Rebecca was actually pregnant with her son back when she was filming Detective Investigation Files IV in 1999. The first time I watched that series, I actually had no clue she was pregnant (goes to show they hid it well at that time) – it wasn’t until I saw an interview she did later on where she talked about some of the creative ways they tried to hide her pregnancy while filming that I found out she was actually pregnant. Of course, afterwards, when I re-watched the series, I then noticed all the stuff she talked about (how she would wear loose fitting clothes or stand behind a counter or at certain angles for particular scenes or hold a pillow in her lap when she was sitting on a couch, etc. so as to hide her belly). Very interesting indeed!

I admire Rebecca for making the choice to be a single mother – it takes a lot of courage and strength to choose that path, especially in a situation like hers where she doesn’t have a huge network of friends and extended family to help out.

Anyway, best of luck to Rebecca and look forward to watching her next series!

****

Mingpao Interview with Rebecca Chan:   A Mother’s Choice

Source: Mingpao Weekly, Issue 2283

Article originally published on August 11, 2012

Translation: llwy12

This interview was one year in the making. Last year, when War and Beauty《金枝慾孽》was re-broadcast in the midnight timeslot, watching the Empress and Concubine Yu battling wits, I called the ‘Empress’ Rebecca Chan (陳秀珠) in the hopes of getting together for an interview – at the time, she was in the U.S. accompanying her son in his studies. Later on, watching her play an evil woman in Bottled Passion 《我的如意狼君》, notorious Tang dynasty Empress WuZeTian (武則天) in The Greatness of a Hero《盛世仁傑》, and Adam Cheng’s (鄭少秋) ex-wife in Master of Play 《心戰》, each time I called, she was not in Hong Kong. It turns out that this ‘filial’ mother decided to stay in the U.S. for the entire year to accompany her son in his studies.

Thirteen years ago, when she decided to give birth to her son without getting married and subsequently raise him entirely on her own, Rebecca already knew that being a single mother would not be easy. Even though Rebecca is not an ‘Empress’ in real life, at home, her son is definitely a ‘Prince’. Returning to HK with her son in tow this past summer, Rebecca expressed that her son is the center of her life – this is a choice she made, the choice of a single mother.

Having played an Empress as well as WuZeTian, Rebecca believes more and more that there isn’t much that a woman can’t do.


Injured her ribs in an accident

With the blink of an eye, Rebecca’s son is already 13 years old – last year, she accompanied him to the U.S. to start school: “Pursuing an education in HK is much more difficult. My son is not exactly a stellar student – we tried traditional schools, but the pressure was too great, so in his third year, I switched him to an international school in the hopes that it would be easier for him to adapt to the U.S. education system.”

She didn’t feel comfortable with her son staying in the U.S. all by himself, so she decided to stop working and accompany him to San Francisco [located in the state of California] to start school: “For the next 2 years, I plan to accompany him more and help him get adjusted first, then later on plan my own time.”

As for her filming obligations with TVB, it wasn’t until she returned to HK with her son earlier this summer that she had the time to discuss her next series. For the next few years, she plans to only film 1 series per year so she can focus on accompanying her son in his studies.

The last series that Rebecca filmed prior to leaving HK was Bottled Passion. On the last day of filming, as everyone was getting ready to leave, an accident occurred – Rebecca suddenly lost her balance and fell, her chest hitting the corner of a table: “The pain was so great that I thought I was going to die! They had an ambulance take me to the hospital right away and after some x-rays, it was discovered that my ribs were cracked in a few places!”

Due to her injury, she had to completely stop working in order to rest, so she decided to move her plan of accompanying her son in his studies forward a few years: “As the saying goes, life is unpredictable!” Oftentimes, things do not always go as planned. Given the situation, Rebecca decided to take the entire year off from work.

Her son, Tiga Chan (陳迪加), was named after a Japanese anime superhero. Even though he was born in California, Rebecca admits that for the first 6 months after the two of them arrived in San Francisco, adjusting to life there was very difficult: “We had to rent a house and buy furniture. Language barrier was also a problem, as only English was spoken at the schools…help! I also had to take English lessons. I told my son: ‘Let’s give it one year and if it still doesn’t work out, then we’ll leave!’ That’s why I always feel that no matter what you do, never burn your bridges – always leave an ‘out’ for yourself.”


Made the right choice to become a single mom

One person going to school, yet essentially two people were doing the homework. When it came to her son’s studies, Rebecca was right there next to him, helping him look stuff up in the dictionary: “Whether it was Roman history, Islamic history, or U.S. history, I took more notes than he did – it was more exhausting than filming series! Back when my son was born, I had gone back to work in less than a year, so I had never experienced being a ‘full-time’ stay-at-home mom before. It took some getting used to in the beginning, as I not only had to take care of my son, I also had to cook 3 meals a day as well as do the household chores, since there are no maids in the U.S.”

The most difficult thing about being a single mother is having to play the role of both mother and father to her son: “Sometimes I feel like I have split personalities, like the characters in Master of Play – at times, I feel like doting on him more while other times I feel I have to be more strict with him. I do spoil him though sometimes. He loves reading a particular Japanese anime, but I’m not too fond of him reading it – however I often tell him that I’ll buy the comic for him but he has to get certain grade in school. Of course, he always answers with ‘yes, yes, yes’ but after I buy it for him, he doesn’t follow through with the grades. Even now, I still give in to his sweet-talk.”

Her son likes to draw and has quite the artistic talent – oftentimes, he would draw pictures to express his feelings in his journal and whenever Rebecca would see it, she would feel warm inside. Back then, Rebecca made the decision to have a child without getting married and over the course of the next 13 years, her son has been the main motivational force in her life: “I would say that the decision wasn’t wrong at all. Over the years, things have been relatively smooth and I’m enjoying it. I live according to my own plan! When I first made the decision, I already knew the path wouldn’t be easy, but it hasn’t been too bad either – a lot of people are worse off than me. Basically taking it one step at a time – working in order to make a living and provide for my son. The most important thing is that my son is happy and healthy – that’s enough for me. After all, it was my own decision – no one forced me, so I can’t complain. I always tell myself to look on the positive side of things.”

Even if her son ever asks about his father, it won’t be too difficult for Rebecca to answer: “I’m already prepared with answers, but so far, he rarely asks. Sometimes, when he’s watching a series and sees a father mistreating his own son, he would say to me: ‘Luckily I don’t have a father!’ When I hear him say this, I know things are ok because he feels that life with his mother is very happy and he doesn’t feel like anything was lacking in his childhood. I try hard to provide him with everything he’d possibly need and constantly tell him: ‘Other kids may have dads and you don’t, but at least you’re happy – enjoy and live your life happily, that’s already enough.’”


Will consider finding a life partner

Rebecca expressed that even her 80 year old dad is able to accept her being a single mother – in this day and age, the whole world shouldn’t have a problem with it: “The most important thing is to be a responsible person. The new series that I’ll be filming talks about an ‘after-90s’ girl who gets pregnant early in life and after giving birth, abandons the baby – obviously a lot of problems occur. But me, I resolve to be a responsible parent! I read designer Eddie Lau (劉培基)’s column in your magazine where he describes his childhood experience – how could a mother be so cruel? Crazy!”

When Rebecca gave birth to her son, she was already 39 years old – though maturity was on her side, her age made the pregnancy higher risk. She expressed that due to this, it was a difficult experience: “That’s why I feel that you should have children when you’re young. Now that my son is grown, he’ll ask me to watch videos on the internet or play video games with him – I don’t have enough energy for all that, very tiring. However I have a huge sense of responsibility – since I already signed up to go visit the Three Gorges [tourist site in China] with my son, I will still go, even if I have to take painkillers for my injury.”

When actress Shirley Yeung (楊思琦) also became a single mother earlier this year, Rebecca expressed that she understood exactly the type of pressure she had to go through: “I sent her a text message to encourage her – I wrote: ‘Women are very capable and can carry the weight of the world on our shoulders, you can do it!’ She’s still young, so definitely in a better position than I was.”

After thirteen years as a single mother, Rebecca expressed that her son will be independent in 2 years and can stay overseas on his own, so she can start thinking about her own life: “At my age now, I would like to have someone to lean on and listen to my troubles.” When she was in the U.S. for a year, she was busy with her son’s matters, so didn’t have time to meet anyone new – luckily, her ‘requirements’ for choosing a partner are quite flexible: “His age and nationality don’t matter to me, the most important thing is that we’re able to click – even if he’s a Westerner, as long as we’re able to communicate with each other, then it’s not a problem. I’ve been single for so long that I’m used to it already, so sometimes it’s hard to have to accommodate someone else. Of course, he must get along with my son – most important is that Tiga likes him as well.”

Rebecca admits that in the past 13 years, she has not encountered anyone whom she feels can be a dad to her son: “The main reason is because I never really thought about it [finding a partner] before; it’s only now that my son is grown up and will be more independent that I’ve started to think about it – plus seeing some of my friends in the U.S. with their significant others and how happy they were also made me think more about it. If I were in HK, my focus would have been primarily on work and wouldn’t have time to think about it at all – now I can consider it.”


Most memorable relationship with her Malaysian ex-boyfriend

Rebecca expressed that all of her previous boyfriends were from outside the industry. The only artist she was heavily rumored with was Shek Sau (石修), however she expressed that the two of them were merely on-screen partners and never had a relationship in real life.

When she went to Malaysia to film series for a few years, she met a man whom she loved enough to stay in Malaysia for: “I don’t’ like the weather in Malaysia, as it’s way too hot – I like places that have clearly defined 4 seasons.” How about Malaysian men? Rebecca expressed that they were not bad – her Malaysian boyfriend was actually the son of a rich tycoon and at that time, their relationship had even reached the marriage stage. So what was their reason for breaking up? She expressed: “The timing wasn’t right – such a pity! Actually, out of all the relationships I’ve had, this one was the most memorable for me. He was a very good man – very simple, not complicated at all. I like simple people.” Rebecca emphasized that their breakup had nothing to do with her boyfriend’s wealth or family status: “It was a compatibility issue between the two of us.”

If she had become a ‘Malaysian bride’ back then, her fate would have been very different: “It’s actually quite interesting – if back then I had continued to work as ground crew at the airline instead of participating in the Miss HK pageant, I probably would have become a supervisor already. I like rotating shifts – if I had to stay in an office all day long, I’d be bored to death.”

The primary reason why Rebecca participated in the Miss HK pageant was to meet her idol Cora Miao (繆騫人): “From the way she [Cora] talked to the way she dressed, she always came across very cool and charismatic.” Cora Miao participated in the 1976 Miss HK pageant while Rebecca was a contestant in the 1979 pageant – both experienced a similar fate in that neither made it into the top 3 rankings: “Unfortunately, by the time I entered the industry, Cora had already left TVB. When I was in San Francisco, I had hoped to bump into her, but it didn’t happen.”

One time, back when she was young, Rebecca had also gone the ‘rebellious’ route and took some sexy photos that had resulted in her losing a few hosting gigs at TVB due to her image not being ‘healthy’ enough – luckily, it didn’t impact her career permanently and she went from being TVB fa dan [in the 1980s] to a steady, talent-path actress.


Wanted to get her mole removed

Rebecca has a mole near the corner of her mouth that has become somewhat of a trademark for her. She states that in the past, she constantly thought about getting the mole removed, however her friends were opposed to it: “A geomancer once told me I won’t have to worry much about putting ‘food’ on the table [meaning ‘making money’]; indeed I’ve tasted many fine ‘delicacies’ in the past but I feel that I may have the fame, but not necessarily the fortune.”

Rebecca has worked for TVB 30 years and throughout that time, she has filmed series after series, playing a variety of different characters. Having filmed series since the 1980s until now, she understands very clearly in her heart that the quality of TVB series has dropped: “I still feel that series from the 1980s were a lot better to watch. My favorite is The Final Verdict 《誓不低頭》 (1988) – every time Adam and I collaborate, our characters in the series don’t have good results. I really liked the script for this series because the story isn’t just focused on the main lead, but rather, it’s very spread out – every character has a chance to shine.”

In terms of recent works, Rebecca is the most satisfied with her performance in Master of Play: “I quite like [producer] Jonathan Chik (戚其義), as he has a unique style to his filming, however I don’t like how his scripts are always done ‘on the fly’ [飛紙仔]. During the broadcast of the series, people would ask me about the plot, but I would have absolutely no clue: ‘Oh, Maggie Siu (邵美琪) kills that many people?’ I told Jonathan not to include me in his future series – I’m too old and can’t remember so much dialogue in such a short amount of time.”

Prior to Master of Play, Rebecca had also collaborated with producer Chik on War and Beauty: “It was a very satisfying experience, especially getting the chance to act with Sheren Tang (鄧萃雯). Whether it was on or off the camera, the two of us would still remain in character and constantly try to ‘outdo’ each other in all aspects, from hairstyle to makeup to costume. I would use the Empress’s tone of voice and facial expression to say to her: ‘I am the Empress, you are only a Concubine, you need to bow to me!’”

In 2009’s The Greatness of a Hero, Rebecca got the chance to play the ‘female Emperor’ WuZeTian: “Definitely no regrets! Playing the role of an emperor was very high – everyone was constantly bowing to you and if you didn’t like someone, you could send them off to to die. What other woman gets a chance like that to sit on the throne?”

For consummate actors like Rebecca who are very passionate about their craft, their work is their entertainment. Rebecca expressed that she is open to collaborating with different parties – whether it’s Mainland China, the new TV stations in HK, or TVB, she welcomes all of them to seek her out. Of course, priority will be given to those with a completed script.


EPILOGUE

Likes to drink

Looking back at the days before she had her son, Rebecca admits that she was a party-goer who enjoyed going around eating and drinking: “It was pretty intensive – every night I’d go out drinking. In Malaysia, there’s a street very similar to Lan Kwai Fong – I liked to drink until I felt a bit high…pretty happy.”

However looking back at those ‘wild days’ now, Rebecca feels that she had wasted her time: “If I didn’t have my son, I think I would have continued that type of lifestyle. I’m grateful for my son, as he is my motivation for working hard. He definitely changed me a lot.”

The only thing that hasn’t changed is Rebecca’s fondness for the taste of alcohol. She revealed that sometimes, when her son is in school, she would have a drink or two at home: “When we’d go out for sushi, my son would let me have a little bit of sake.” When her son was an infant, she had once added a few drops of beer to his milk – having received ‘training’ at such a young age, her son now knows how to drink carbonated wine. Rebecca Chan is that type of ‘playful’ mother.